Game-board.



No. 890,897. PATENTED JUNE 16, 1908.

R. FORREST.

GAME BOARD.

I (f @76a ,9 Q G o l O O O O a" 'j J `i0 jj) Y. fo f 7?/ Wm abbot/wwwa NQ. 890,897. PATENTED JUNE 16, 198.

' R. PORREST.

GAME 30AM).n APPLICATION FILED 00T.7,1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ES la ROLLAND FORREST, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAME-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1908.

Application led October 7, 1907. Serial No. 396,285.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROLLAND FoRREsT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Game-Board, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvel which may be lined with some soft or elastic material from which the balls used in the game will readily rebound. At suitable points in the wide semi-circular end, the ledge or rim is omitted or slotted, and adjacent these points the board is provided with pockets into which the balls may readily drop. At the narrow end of the board an elastically yielding finger rest, also constituting a support for a ball or marble, is provided so that the player may forcibly project a ball or marble from the support toward the wide end of the board where a number of marbles or balls are grouped.

Generally considered, the game for which the board is designed consists in shooting by the aid of the thumb and finger a specially characterized ball or marble into a group of balls or marbles located at the wide end of the board, and by the impact of the special marble causing one or more of the group of marbles to find lodgment in one of the pockets. When a player fails to lodge a marble in a pocket, he then loses his turn and the next player proceeds. Thus the game is continued until all the marbles have been lodged in the pockets, and the player so lodging the greatest number wins the game. As a forfeit, the lodging of the players individual or characteristic marble, in a pocket, compels the placing of a marble that has already been odged in the pocket again on the board.

The invention will be best understood by a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication, in which drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the game board. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the pockets, and Fig. 4 is a detail view of the finger rest.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a game board 1 divided on the central longitudinal line into two like parts or halves hinged together as shown at 2, Fig. 2, so that the board may be folded on itself so as to occupy less space when not in use. One end 3 of the board is semi-circular in form and the other end 4 has the sides tapering toward each other until they closely approach each other.

Around the edge of the board and rising therefrom is a ledge or border 5 on the inner face of which is a covering 6 of felt or rubber or some other elastic or semi-elastic material. This ledge is of such height that a ball or marble, such as indicated at 7, will strike it below its upper edge so that such ball or marble is prevented from escaping from the board by the ledge.

At certain points the ledge is cut away, as indicated at 8, and the board itself is also eut away correspondingly while there is secured to the two adjacent ends of the ledge a semicircular bracket 9. Fastened on the bracket and to the cutaway portion of the board is a pocket 1() made of any suitable material, and in the practical embodiment of the invention, there are a number of these pockets and they are usually made of cord netting similar to the pockets used on billiard tables. In fact, the pockets may be in all respects like those of billiard tables.

In order to prevent-the possible escape of the marbles or balls from the table should their speed be sufficient to cause them to rebound violently, the rounded portion of the table is provided with a number of posts 11` fast on the top of the ledge and bent to overhang the table. These posts carry a netting 12 which also overhangs the table, so that should a ball or marble bounce or rebound to a sufficient degree to cause it to over-ride the ledge, it will be caught by the netting and bc again directed to the surface of the table.

At the narrow end of the board, the ledge is continued by short sections 13 which are brought toward each other but terminate Cil before quite reaching each other to leave a short space 14, and at the middle of this space the board is provided with a perpendicular perforation 15 therethrough in which is located a stem 16 terminating at the upper end in a head 17 Surrounding the stem 16 is a perforated guiding plate 18 and, if desired, this plate may be continued in the form of a wearing sleeve extending to the perforation 15. This last described construction is an ordinary common expedient 'for preventing wear and is therefore not shown. The head 17 is maintained in a normally elevated position above the plate 18 by a helical spring 19 surrounding the stem 16 between the said head and plate. On top the head 17 is provided with a cushion 20 which may be slightly depressed in the center, as indicated at 21, and this cushion may be made of soft rubber or some other elastic material.

Within the space left free by the overhanging netting are a series of slight depressions or other means indicated by the reference numeral 22, for placing a number of marbles in the group at a point somewhat remote from the head 17.

Now, let it be supposed that a number of marbles are placed in the depressions or on the indications 22 while a player places a marble in the depression 21. For the purposes of the game, this last mentioned marble, the marble used by the player, is characteristically differentiated from the marbles placed upon the indications 22 so as to` be readily distinguished therefrom. Usually the players marble is of a different color from those placed upon the indications 22 and each p layers marble will be colored differently from that of the other player or players and still be distinguished in color from those upon the board, or the players marbles, while distinguished one from the other by color, may be distinguished from those u on the board by being of a different size. Nbw, a player whose marble is upon the cushion 20, which latter, for convenience, is called a finger rest, places one of his 'fingers upon the cushion and depresses the same against the action of the spring 19 to a greater or less extent, thus determining the height of his marble above the level of the board. The pllayer now, by means of the thumb and nger sna s the marble from the 'finger rest, and there y propels the marble violently toward the group of marbles at the other end of the board. The speed of the propelled marble may be regulated at the will of the player and the distance that this propelled marble will travel through the air before striking the board is also under the control of the operator. There is thus a certain amount of skill required and the player must exercise considerable judgment in the shooting ofA his individual marble toward the group of marbles.

The purpose of the game is to cause the pocketing of the marbles and each player is to endeavor to pocket as many marbles as possible, the one pocketing the greatest number winning the game. When the first shot is made, a greater or less number, or possibly all, of the marbles grouped on the indi cations 22, will be scattered, and if the player Abe sufficiently skilful one or more of the marbles will find 4lodgment in a pocket. This entitles the player to another chance, to be repeated as often as he succeeds in pocketing a marble without, however, permitting his own individual marble or taw to 'End lodgment in a pocket. Should this last contingency arise, then not only does the player lose his turn, but must forfeit advantage by removing one of the marbles he has succeeded in directing into a pocket and again lacing it upon one of the indications 22. bhould the player by unskilful management cause his individual marble to fall into a pocket, when he has no store of marbles in any of the pockets, then he must remove the first marble he succeeds in depositing in the pocket and replace it upon the board. So the players proceed in turn until all the marbles on the board have been pocketed, when the player who succeeds in pocketing the greatest number wins the game.

Of course, the board is capable of being used for games in a different manner than has been described. For instance, the marbles upon the board may be numbered or otherwise characterized, and the pockets may be numbered orcharacterized, so that the game maybe won on points.

It is not intended that the drawing should illustrate proportions with any exactitude, and, therefore, the invention is not to be considered as being limited to any particular proportion or arrangement of the parts, but these may be varied as desired, so long as the characteristic features of the invention are retained.

I claim:d

1. A game-board having a wide and a narrow end, the wide end being semi-circular in shape and the narrow end having straight sides approaching each other, a ledge around the edge of the board and provided with openings at intervals, pockets coincident with the openings, a number of posts at the wide end of the board, said posts being fastened on the top of the ledge and bent to overhang the game board and a net carried by the posts and also overhanging the board about the wide end thereof.

2` A game board having a wide and a narrow end, the wide end being semi-circular in shape and the narrow end having straight sides approaching each other7 a ledge around In testimony that I claim the foregoing as the edge of the board provided with openings myown, I have hereto affixed my signature at intervals, pockets coincident with the opin the presence of two Witnesses.

enings, an overhanging net guard for the ROLLAND FORREST.

Wide ond of the board, and a iinger rest at the Witnesses:

narrow end of the board elastically yielding JOSEPH N. CRAWFORD, in a vertical direction. ED. T. FLING. 

